Today's communication networks provide transport of voice, video and data to both residential and commercial customers, with more and more of those customers being connected by fiber optic cables. In these communication networks, information is transmitted from one location to another by sending pulses of light through the fiber optic cables. Fiber optic transmission provides several advantages over electrical transmission techniques, such as increased bandwidth over distance with lower losses and maintenance.
Designers and installers of fiber optic networks are often confronted with significant space constraints that restrict the design of the network. In particular, terminations of fiber optic cabling (e.g., between the service provider and customer) require a dedicated space to accommodate and protect the terminations. In some instances, the space available for a termination point may be limited to relatively small cabinets, data centers and storage area networks. These small spaces are sometimes ill-suited to accommodate the high number of fiber optic terminations associated with modern, high-bandwidth networks. Consequently, network designers are constantly seeking ways to optimize the space-efficiency of termination points.
High density fiber optic cassette systems have evolved as one solution to provide space-efficient fiber optic terminations. Fiber optic cassettes are standardized modules having a number of ports that are complementary to a standardized endpoint structure of fiber optic cables. These ports provide a plug-and-socket functionality that allows an installer to easily effectuate multiple terminations in an efficient, organized array. Fiber optic cassettes may be mounted in a high-density fiber optic shelf. These shelves have internal mounting rails arranged such that the cassettes can be mounted in a horizontal array with front sides of the cassettes facing an open side of the shelf. This provides easy access to the cassette ports, allowing the installer to effectuate the terminations.
Fiber optic cassette shelves may be designed to include multiple sets of mounting rails so as to accommodate multiple arrays of fiber optic cassettes. This design requires easy access to the front sides of the fiber optic cassettes in each array. Particularly as the shelf approaches maximum capacity, the amount of available space to route cabling and to make terminations with the fiber optic cassettes may be limited. Furthermore, the fiber optic cabling may have to be distributed around the fiber optic cassettes. There may be little space available for the fiber optic cables and it may be challenging to maintain organization of the fiber optic cables.